An Edmonton man has started a nationwide trend by giving away 500 free Tim Hortons coffees, with similar acts of paying-it-forward reported in Calgary and Ottawa this week.

None of the three strangers have yet been identified. An Ottawa man’s gesture was the latest, as he paid for $860 worth of coffee (about 500 large cups) Thursday morning at about 6:30 a.m. at the chain’s Terminal Avenue location.

Melissa Dass, a manager at the Tim Hortons, told Postmedia News customers were happy when they found out their coffee was free. The free coffees sold out in about an hour.

The second gesture was recorded in Calgary Wednesday in the now familiar manner — a mysterious man walked in, and said he was going to pay for the next 500 coffees — surely an appreciated gesture in a city that is still recovering from this summer’s destructive floods.